Method and Device for Manufacturing a Barrier Layer on a Flexible Substrate

ABSTRACT

The invention provides a method for manufacturing a barrier layer on a substrate, the method comprising: —providing a substrate with an inorganic oxide layer having a pore volume between 0.3 and 10 vol. %; —treating said substrate with an inorganic oxide layer in a glow discharge plasma, said plasma being generated by at least two electrodes in a treatment space formed between said two electrodes, said treatment space also being provided with a gas comprising Nitrogen compounds; and —the treating of the substrate in said treatment space is done at a temperature below 150° C., e.g. below 100° C. The invention further provides a device for manufacturing a barrier layer on a substrate.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a barrier layer on asubstrate. The present invention further relates to a device formanufacturing such a barrier layer. In addition the invention relates toa substrate having an inorganic oxide barrier layer.

BACKGROUND

Nitridation techniques using a nitrogen plasma have been widely studiedfor application to integrated electronics devices such as gateinsulators of metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors.

For example U.S. Pat. No. 7,619,356 describes an anode for an OLEDdevice wherein the anode comprises an Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) film on aglass substrate and the ITO surface is being treated in a plasmatreatment at low pressure (14 mTorr) at 50 W power for 5 minutes. As aresult of this treatment 13.3% nitrogen atoms are observed from thesurface, which amount corresponds to about 275 oxygen atoms.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,132,373 discloses a method for producing a crystallinemetal oxide film (for example a film containing ITO) using a nitrogen oroxygen plasma at a low pressure (50-100 Pa) for at least 3 minutes.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,898,082 discloses a semiconductor device having abarrier metal nitride layer, the layer formed using a nitrogen plasma athigh temperatures of 350-750 degrees Celsius.

Furthermore, Nakae et al describes in the Journal of Applied Physics101, 023513 (2007) the grow models of silicon nitride ultrathin filmsfabricated using atmospheric pressure plasma on Si-wafers. In case ofnitridation with an RF plasma this was done at a low gas pressure of1.0*10⁻⁵ Torr.

JP 4 249 520 discloses the improvement of using a nitridation step withan Argon and Nitrogen plasma treatment at low pressure.

In many manufacturing processes involving glass substrates, such as theprocess of manufacturing OLED devices, there is a desire to replaceglass substrates with low weight, flexible polymeric substrates usingpolymers with a very thin amorphous layer of metal oxide with improvedbarrier properties.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method for creating animproved barrier on a substrate, in particular a flexible substrate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a present invention embodiment, a method is provided formanufacturing a barrier layer on a substrate, the method comprising:

-   -   providing a substrate with an inorganic oxide layer having a        pore volume between 0.3 and 10 vol. %;    -   treating said substrate with an inorganic oxide layer in a glow        discharge plasma, said plasma being generated by at least two        electrodes in a treatment space formed between said two        electrodes, said treatment space also being provided with a gas        comprising Nitrogen compounds; and    -   the treating of the substrate in said treatment space is done at        a temperature below 150° C., e.g. below 100° C.

In an embodiment, the treatment is done until a barrier with a top layercomprising between 1 to 3% Nitrogen-atom concentration is formed on thesubstrate.

In an embodiment the generated plasma is a high frequency or radiofrequency (RF) plasma or discharge.

In an embodiment, the gas comprising Nitrogen compounds comprises N₂(nitrogen) and/or NH₃ (ammonia) and/or NO.

In an embodiment, the gas comprising Nitrogen compounds has a pressurebetween 0.1 and 10 atmosphere, e.g. between 0.5 and 5 atmosphere(between 5×10⁴ Pa and 5×10⁵ Pa), e.g. between 0.6 and 2 atmosphere(between 6×10⁴ Pa and 2×10⁵ Pa), e.g. substantially 1 atmosphere. Atthese pressures, typically higher than used in the prior art, thebarrier is advantageously formed in less time.

In an embodiment, the treating of the substrate in said treatment spaceis done for a duration of less than 20 minutes, e.g. less than 10minutes. Given the conditions outlined above, this is enough time toform a suitable barrier layer, in particular a barrier having a toplayer with 1 to 3% Nitrogen atom concentration.

In an embodiment, the substrate is a flexible substrate, in particular aflexible polymeric substrate. In a further embodiment, the electrodesare roll-electrodes, and the flexible layer is moved through thetreatment space at a linear speed.

In an embodiment, the inorganic oxide layer of the provided substrate isan silicon-oxide layer.

In an embodiment, the top layer of the barrier that is formed is between5 and 15 nm, e.g. between 7 and 12 nm, thick.

The invention further provides a device for manufacturing a barrierlayer on a substrate, the device comprising:

-   -   at least two electrodes, arranged to generate a glow discharge        plasma in a treatment space formed between said two electrodes;    -   a gas supply device, arranged to provide a gas comprising        Nitrogen compounds to the treatment space;    -   wherein the treatment space if further arranged to hold and        treat at least one substrate having an inorganic oxide layer,        and the device is arranged for treating of the substrate in said        treatment space at a temperature below 150° C., e.g. below        100° C. The device can further have any of the previously        mentioned features of embodiments of the invention.

The invention further provides a substrate having a barrier layer, thebarrier layer comprising an inorganic oxide layer originally, that is,prior to a nitridation step, having a pore size between 0.3 and 10 vol.%, the inorganic oxide layer further having a top layer comprisingbetween 1 to 3% Nitrogen-atom concentration. The substrate and/or thebarrier layer may further have any of the abovementioned substrateand/or barrier layer features.

The method and device described in this invention gives a remarkableimprovement, which is not known from the prior art, using a nitridationstep at atmospheric pressure and relatively low temperatures resultingin a product having a small amount concentration N-atoms built-in in themetal oxide surface. The method and device according the invention thusallows the manufacturing of an excellent barrier film, wherein said filmmay essentially consist of a flexible substrate having a thin inorganicoxide layer having a pore volume from e.g. 0.1 to 20 volume %, e.g. 0.3to 10 volume %. The method can yield a sealed inorganic oxide layerhaving between 1 and 3% nitrogen atom concentration in the first 10 nmtop layer of the inorganic film. The method comprises at least atreatment step wherein said substrate with the inorganic oxide layer istreated in a plasma, such as an atmospheric plasma, more in particularan atmospheric pressure glow discharge plasma that is generated in atreatment space formed between at least two electrodes, by applying anelectrical power from a power supply to the at least two electrodes,resulting in the treatment space in a high frequency electromagneticfield. Said treatment step e.g. lasts for less than 10 minutes at atemperature below 150° C., during which the treatment space being filledwith a gas composition comprising a nitrogen compound such as N₂(nitrogen) or NH₃ (ammonia) or NO or a combination thereof.

In another embodiment besides the above mentioned Nitrogen-basedmolecules, the gas composition may in addition contain a small amount ofH₂ (hydrogen) gas, which may influence the plasma and barrier propertiesadvantageously.

As a result of the treatment the inorganic oxide layer becomes sealedand gains a barrier improvement of a factor 1000, which was anunforeseen and surprising effect.

The method is preferably practiced on a flexible substrate with aninorganic oxide layer having a pore size of 0.1 to 20 volume %, e.g. 0.3to 10 volume %. A variety of methods are possible for the provision ofsaid substrate, which may be a sputtering method, an ion plating method,and a vacuum evaporation method. Alternatively, the inorganic oxide filmcan be formed by application of a precursor solution, that is, a wetdeposition. In the latter case, the above-mentioned inorganic oxidelayer may also be pretreated by ultraviolet light irradiation prior toexposing to plasma.

The inorganic oxide film substantially is, for example, a thin layercontaining a silicon oxide, titanium oxide, aluminum oxide, filmcontaining ITO and the like. The inorganic oxide film thickness may varybetween 10 and 1000 nm. Examplary ranges may be between 15 and 100 nm.

In an embodiment the inorganic oxide film is prepared by exposing aflexible polymeric substrate to an atmospheric plasma depositionapparatus using a precursor as disclosed in EP 1 917 842 by applicantand which is hereby incorporated as reference. Preferred precursorswhich may be used for forming an inorganic oxide layer on a flexiblesubstrate by using an atmospheric plasma as described in WO 2009 104 957are TEOS, HMDSO, TPOT, TEOT, TMA, TEA.

The flexible substrate may be any kind of polymeric film. In anexemplary embodiment PET or PEN film is used having a thickness of 50 to200 μm.

Other examples of substrate which may be used are transparent sheets ofethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), of polyvinyl butyral (PVB), ofpolytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), perfluoroalcoxy resins (PFA), i.e.,copolymers of tetrafluoroethylene and perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether,tetafluoroethylene-hexafluoropropylene copolymers (FEP),tetrafluoroethylene-perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether-hexafluoro-propylenecopolymers (EPE), tetrafluoroethylene-ethylene or propylenecopolymers(ETFE), polychlorotrifluoroethylene resins (PCTFE),ethylene-chlorotrifluoroethylene copolymers (ECTFE), vinylidene fluorideresins (PVDF), and polyvinyl fluorides (PVF) or coextruded sheets frompolyester with EVA, polycarbonate, polyolefin, polyurethane, liquidcrystal polymer, aclar, aluminum, of sputtered aluminum oxide polyester,sputtered silicon oxide or silicon nitride polyester, sputtered aluminumoxide polycarbonate, and sputtered silicon oxide or silicon nitridepolycarbonate.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The present invention will be discussed in more detail below, using anumber of exemplary embodiments, with reference to the attacheddrawings, in which

FIGS. 1 a, 1 b, and 1 c show schematic views of a plasma generationdevice according the invention.

FIG. 2 shows the Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA) orX-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) result of the top surface of anembodiment after an atmospheric pressure glow discharge nitridationtreatment.

FIG. 3 shows the ESCA (XPS) result of the top surface of a corona N₂treatment of example 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXAMPLES

The present invention will now be described in reference to exemplaryembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1 a shows a schematic view of a plasma apparatus with which thepresent invention may be practiced. A treatment space 5, which may be atreatment chamber within an enclosure (not shown in FIG. 1 a), or atreatment space 5 with an open structure, comprises two electrodes 2, 3.In general the electrodes 2, 3 are provided with a dielectric barrier 2a, 3 a (see FIG. 1 b) in order to be able to generate and sustain a glowdischarge at atmospheric pressure in the treatment space. In theembodiment shown, the electrodes 2, 3 are planar electrodes, and thetreatment space 5 is a rectangular space. A side tab 6 is provided toclose off the treatment space 5 on one side.

However, other forms of the electrodes 2, 3 and of the gap or treatmentspace 5 are possible, e.g. as part of a cylindrical arrangement of theplasma treatment apparatus. E.g., the treatment space may becylindrical, or elliptic, or have another form adapted to treat aspecific type of substrate 1. Both electrodes 2, 3 may have the sameconfiguration being flat orientated (as shown in FIG. 1 a) or both beingroll-electrodes (as shown in FIG. 1 c). Also different configurationsmay be applied using a roll electrode and a flat or cylinder segmentshaped electrode opposing each other. In further embodiments, theelectrodes may be multi-segment electrodes. Embodiments using more thantwo electrodes are also imaginable.

In general the atmospheric pressure plasma is generated between the twoelectrodes 2, 3 in the treatment space 5. Alternatively a plurality ofelectrodes 2, 3 is provided. In case the electrodes 2, 3 have a surfacearea which is at least as big as the substrate 1, the substrate 1 can befixed in the treatment space 5 between the two electrodes 2, 3.

FIG. 1 b shows a variant wherein two substrates 1 a, 1 b are treatedsimultaneously. In this alternative embodiment, not one substrate 1 buttwo substrates (1 a, 1 b) are positioned in a fixed way or moving at acertain speed in the treatment space 5 to utilise the gas supply evenmore efficiently. In FIG. 1 c a further example of such an embodimentcomprising two side tabs 6 a, 6 b and two substrates 1 a, 1 b is shown.

Both electrodes 2, 3 can be provided with a dielectric barrier layer 2a, 3 a (see FIG. 1 b). The dielectric layer 2 a on the first electrode 2has a thickness of d1 (mm), and the dielectric layer 3 a on the secondelectrode 3 has a thickness of d2 (mm). In operation, the totaldielectric distance d of the electrode configuration also includes thethickness of the (one or two) substrates 1 a, 1 b to be treated,indicated by f1 (mm) and f2 (mm). Thus, the total dielectric thicknessof the dielectric barrier in the treatment space 5 between the at leasttwo opposing electrodes (2, 3) equals d=d1+f1+f2+d2.

In a further embodiment, both d1 and d2 are 0 and the only dielectricmaterial forming the dielectric barrier is the substrate 1 a, 1 b. Incase of two substrates 1 a and 1 b, the total dielectric thickness inthis case is d=f1+f2.

In still another embodiment both d1 and d2 are 0 and only one substrate1 is used. In this embodiment the total dielectric thickness equals f1,so d=f1. Also in this embodiment in which electrode 3 is not coveredwith a dielectric material it is possible to obtain a stable atmosphericglow discharge plasma. The gap distance g in FIG. 1 c indicates thesmallest gap between the electrodes 2, 3 where an atmospheric pressureglow discharge plasma can exist in operation (i.e. in the treatmentspace 5), also called the free inter-electrode space. The dimensions ofthe electrodes 2, 3, dielectric barrier layers 2 a, 3 a, and gap gbetween the electrodes 2, 3, are predetermined in order to generate andsustain a glow discharge plasma at atmospheric pressure in the treatmentspace 5.

The dimensions of the electrodes 2, 3, dielectric barrier layers 2 a, 3a, and gap g between the electrodes 2, 3 and the total dielectricdistance (d) which is the total dielectric thickness of the dielectricbarrier are controlled in a further embodiment, such that the product ofgap distance and the total dielectric distance is arranged to be lessthan or equal to 1.0 mm² or even more preferred less than 0.5 mm² asdisclosed in WO 2009/104 957 by applicant and is hereby incorporated asreference.

In case the substrate 1 is larger than the electrode area, the substrate1 may be moved through the treatment space 5, e.g. at a linear speedusing a roll-to-roll configuration, an example of which is shown in theembodiment of FIG. 1 c. The substrates 1 a, 1 b are guided in closecontact with the roller shaped (roll) electrodes 2, 3, using guidingrollers 9. A roll-electrode is e.g. implemented as a cylinder shapedelectrode, mounted to allow rotation in operation e.g. using a mountingshaft or bearings. Such a roll-electrode may be freely rotating, or maybe driven at a certain angular speed, e.g. using well known controllerand drive units. The side tabs 6 a, 6 b are positioned at the roller endfaces, thereby creating a closed off treatment space 5 between theelectrodes 2, 3.

The electrodes 2, 3 are connected to a power supply 4, which is arrangedto provide electrical power to the electrodes for generating theatmospheric (glow discharge) plasma.

The power supply can be a power supply providing a wide range offrequencies for example f=10 kHz-30 MHz.

Very good results can be obtained by using an atmospheric pressure glowdischarge (APGD) plasma. Until recently these plasma's suffered from abad stability, but using the stabilization circuits as for exampledescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,774,569, EP 1 383 359, EP 1 547 123 and EP1 626 613 (which are incorporated herein by reference), very stable APGplasma's can be obtained. In general these plasma's are stabilized by astabilization circuit 21 (as shown FIG. 1 a) counteracting localinstabilities in the plasma. Using the stabilization circuit 21 incombination with the AC power source 20 in the power supply 4 for theplasma generating apparatus results in a controlled and stable plasma,without streamers, filamentary discharges or other imperfections.

In the plasma treatment apparatus a gas supply device 8 may be arrangedfor the substrate treatment in order to direct the gas for thenitridation step towards an inner region of the substrate to beprocessed. The supply device 8 also acts as the main carrier gas supply.A carrier gas may be used such as Argon, Helium, etc., to form theplasma, as an additive or mixture to reduce the breakdown voltage.

A gas supply inlet 8 a may be used to direct the gas into the treatmentspace 5 as shown in EP 2 226 832 by applicant and hereby incorporated asreference. The gas supply device 8 may be provided with storage, supplyand mixing components as known to the skilled person.

The gas directed to the treatment space for the nitration step isessentially consisting of N₂ (nitrogen) or NH₃ (ammonia) or NO orcombination thereof. In further embodiments the gas composition mayconsist besides the presence of N₂ (nitrogen) or NH₃ (ammonia) or NO orcombination thereof a small amount of H₂.

The total amount of gas supplied to the substrate for the nitridationstep is in the range of 1 to 30 slm.

Further the temperature in the treatment space 5 during the nitridationstep is preferably below 150° C. and even preferably below 100° C.; thetime of plasma treatment is preferably below the 10 minutes, preferablybelow 5 and even more preferably below 2 minutes. Excellent results havebeen found using at most 60 seconds of plasma treatment. As a resultexcellent barriers can be prepared at very mild conditions i.e. atatmospheric pressure at low temperature and high speed giving higheconomical value.

After the nitridation a substrate remains having a thin inorganic oxidefilm having a low N-atom concentration amount between 2 and 3%.

The nitrogen concentration is determined by X-ray PhotoelectronSpectroscopy (XPS), using Amicon Electron Spectroscopy for ChemicalAnalysis (ESCA) equipment manufactured by Kratos.

EXAMPLES

Water vapour transmission rate (WVTR) of a typical 50 nm inorganicsilicon oxide layer on a PEN 100 μm sheet film may change remarkablygoing from about 2 to about 0.002 g/m²*day and typical barrierimprovement factors after the plasma treatment is 400, 500 or 1000,which is an unforeseen and surprising effect. Barrier properties forsuch thin layers of comparable quality have previously only beenreported for thin layers (about 50 nm) prepared by ALD (Atomic LayerDeposition) in a plasma process which is much less efficient and takesmuch more time as each atomic layer formed in an ALD cycle comprises 4different steps.

WVTR is determined using a Mocon Aquatran Model 1 which uses acoloumetric cell (electrochemical cell) with a minimum detection limitof 5*10⁻⁴ g/m²*day. This method provides a more sensitive and accuratepermeability evaluation than the permeation measurement by using IRabsorption. All measurements were done at 40° C./90% RH.

The free pore volume of the inorganic oxides was determined using theLorentz-Lorenz equations by measuring the optical density difference ofthe material. Optical density difference was measured using a WoollamSpectroscopic Ellipsometer equipped with an vacuum chamber and heatingstage.

Several samples (rolls) were prepared by depositing PEN (100 μm thick)or PET (100 μm thick) using an atmospheric pressure glow dischargeplasma apparatus as disclosed in WO 2009 104 957 in a treatment spaceusing a plasma power of 600 W, an excitation energy of 200 kHz and a gascomposition (95% N₂/5% O₂) using different precursors (HMDSO/TEOS)resulting in the following 12 examples all having 50 nm inorganic oxide(Silicon oxide) layer.

TABLE 1 Substrate Precursor Pore (vol. %) Example 1-4 PEN HMDSO 0.4~3Example 5-8 PET HMDSO 0.3~2 Example 9-12 PET TEOS 0.3~3

Typical WVTR of the PET samples after deposition is 5 g/m2*day and forPEN the WVTR is 2 g/m2*day. These WVTR values are similar to the valuesof the bare polymer film.

As next step a part of the 12 examples were treated using the sameatmospheric pressure plasma apparatus (APGD) as described in WO 2009 104957 using a plasma power of 300 W, an excitation energy of 200 kHzhowever as gas composition of

1) 100% N₂ (10 slm) or 2) 95% N₂+5% NH₃ (10 slm) or 3) 98% N₂+2% NO (10slm) or 4) 90% N₂+10% H₂ (10 slm). The nitridation step was done in 60seconds at a temperature of 90° C.

FIG. 2 shows N 1s signal of example 1 before and after the APGDnitridation step (post-treatment).

Another part of the same 12 examples were treated using a Low frequency(LF) dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) corona plasma using Softalcorona unit type VTG 3005 (corona discharge treatment) equipment underthe same gas compositions 1-4 described as above. FIG. 3 shows the ESCA(XPS) result of the top surface of the corona N₂ treatment.

Table 2 shows the WVTR (in g/m²*day) and barrier improvement factor(BIF) results for the 12 examples treated under the APGD or the coronatreatment as nitidation step. The nitrogen atom concentration wasdetermined on the examples after the APGD post-treatment.

Although in all cases an improvement of the barrier performance isobserved the best results are obtained (even with a barrier improvementfactor of about 1000) by using a high frequency APG discharge for thenitridation step.

TABLE 2 APGD WVTR^(@) APGD APGD Corona Corona Gas (g/m² * day) BIF N%⁽*⁾ WVTR BIF Example 1 N₂ 0.003 666 1.3 1.0 2 Example 2 N₂/NH₃<0.002 >1000 2.9 0.5 4 Example 3 N₂/NO 0.005 400 1.1 1.2 2 Example 4N₂/H₂ 0.003 666 1.6 0.8 2.5 Example 5 N₂ <0.002 >2500 2.2 3 1.7 Example6 N₂/NH₃ <0.002 >2500 2.7 1.6 3 Example 7 N₂/NO 0.005 1000 1.8 3.9 1.3Example 8 N₂/H₂ <0.002 >2500 2.1 2.0 2.5 Example 9 N₂ <0.002 >2500 2.53.1 1.6 Example N₂/NH₃ <0.002 >2500 2.8 2.0 2.5 10 Example N₂/NO 0.006833 1.4 3.5 1.4 11 Example N₂/H₂ <0.002 >2500 0.9 2.1 2.4 12 ⁽*⁾XPSreveals that as a result of the nitridation step a distinct low energyN1s peak appears which is attributed to N—Si3 bonding. ^((@))backgroundsignal has not been subtracted; as back ground signal is in the order ofabout 0.002 the WVTR of examples 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12 are in fact lowerthan 0.002 which as been denoted as <0.002.

1. A method for manufacturing a barrier layer on a substrate (1, 1 a, 1b), the method comprising: providing a substrate (1, 1 a, 1 b) with aninorganic oxide layer having a pore volume between 0.3 and 10 vol. %;treating said substrate with an inorganic oxide layer in a glowdischarge plasma, said plasma being generated by at least two electrodes(2, 3) in a treatment space (5) formed between said two electrodes, saidtreatment space also being provided with a gas comprising Nitrogencompounds; and the treating of the substrate in said treatment space isdone at a temperature below 150° C., e.g. below 100° C.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the treatment of the substrate is doneuntil a barrier with a top layer comprising between 1 to 3%Nitrogen-atom concentration is formed.
 3. The method according to claim1, wherein the gas comprising Nitrogen compounds, comprises N₂(nitrogen) and/or NH₃ (ammonia) and/or NO.
 4. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the gas comprising Nitrogen compounds has a pressurebetween 0.1 and 10 atmosphere.
 5. The method according to claim 1,wherein the treating of the substrate in said treatment space is donefor a duration of less than 10 minutes.
 6. The method according to claim1, wherein the substrate is a flexible substrate.
 7. The methodaccording to claim 6, wherein the electrodes are roll-electrodes, andthe flexible layer is moved through the treatment space at a linearspeed.
 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the inorganic oxidelayer of the provided substrate is a silicon-oxide layer.
 9. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the top layer is between 5 and 15 nmthick.
 10. (canceled)
 11. (canceled)
 12. A substrate having a barrierlayer, the barrier layer comprising an inorganic oxide layer having apore volume between 0.3 and 10 vol. %, the inorganic oxide layer furtherhaving a top layer comprising between 1 to 3% Nitrogen-atomconcentration.
 13. The substrate according to claim 12, wherein theinorganic oxide layer of the provided substrate is a silicon-oxidelayer.
 14. The substrate according to claim 12, wherein the substrate isa flexible substrate.
 15. The substrate according to claim 12, whereinthe top layer is between 5 and 15 nm thick.
 16. The method according toclaim 1, wherein (i) the treatment of the substrate is done until abarrier with a top layer comprising between 1 to 3% Nitrogen-atomconcentration is formed; (ii) the gas comprising Nitrogen compounds,comprises N₂ (nitrogen) and/or NH₃ (ammonia) and/or NO; (iii) the gascomprising Nitrogen compounds has a pressure between 0.1 and 10atmosphere; and (iv) the treating of the substrate in said treatmentspace is done for a duration of less than 2 minutes.
 17. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein (i) the treatment of the substrate is doneuntil a barrier with a top layer comprising between 1 to 3%Nitrogen-atom concentration is formed; (ii) the gas comprising Nitrogencompounds, comprises N₂ (nitrogen) and/or NH₃ (ammonia) and/or NO; (iii)the gas comprising Nitrogen compounds has a pressure between 0.6 and 2atmosphere; and (iv) the treating of the substrate in said treatmentspace is done for a duration of less than 10 minutes.
 18. The methodaccording to claim 6, wherein (i) the treatment of the substrate is doneuntil a barrier with a top layer comprising between 1 to 3%Nitrogen-atom concentration is formed; (ii) the gas comprising Nitrogencompounds, comprises N₂ (nitrogen) and/or NH₃ (ammonia) and/or NO; (iii)the gas comprising Nitrogen compounds has a pressure between 0.1 and 10atmosphere; and (iv) the treating of the substrate in said treatmentspace is done for a duration of less than 10 minutes.
 19. The methodaccording to claim 6, wherein (i) the treatment of the substrate is doneuntil a barrier with a top layer comprising between 1 to 3%Nitrogen-atom concentration is formed; (ii) the gas comprising Nitrogencompounds, comprises N₂ (nitrogen) and/or NH₃ (ammonia) and/or NO; (iii)the gas comprising Nitrogen compounds has a pressure between 0.6 and 2atmosphere; and (iv) the treating of the substrate in said treatmentspace is done for a duration of less than 10 minutes.
 20. The methodaccording to claim 18, wherein the inorganic oxide layer of the providedsubstrate is a silicon-oxide layer and wherein the top layer is between5 and 15 nm thick.
 21. The method according to claim 19, wherein theinorganic oxide layer of the provided substrate is a silicon-oxide layerand wherein the top layer is between 5 and 15 nm thick.
 22. Thesubstrate according to claim 12, wherein (i) the inorganic oxide layerof the provided substrate is a silicon-oxide layer; (ii) the substrateis a flexible polymeric substrate; and (iii) the top layer is between 7and 12 nm thick.